


among the dead we rot

by honeygutz



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Angst, Apocalypse, Drug Use, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Smut, Multi, No Quadrants, Smut, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Zombie Apocalypse, davekat - Freeform, rosemary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:35:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23650174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeygutz/pseuds/honeygutz
Summary: in which a lonely teenage boy meets another lonely teenage boy in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.{not humanstuck; mature content}began; april 10th 2020finished;this is also posted on wattpad under the same name!
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam
Kudos: 10





	1. characters

survivors

kanaya maryam (leader)  
karkat vantas  
dave strider  
rose lalonde  
roxy lalonde  
jade harley  
john egbert

the shadows

dirk strider (leader)  
jake english  
jane crocker

rainbow slayers

vriska serket (leader)  
tavros nitram  
terezi pyrope  
eridan ampora  
gamzee makara  
sollux captor  
aradia megido  
[former members; location unknown]  
nepeta leijon  
equius zahhak  
feferi peixes


	2. i

with a loud clatter, multiple pill bottles dropped to the dull tile floor. karkat hissed as he realized the noise he was making. if he wasn't careful, rotters would hear him rummaging through the remnants of a long since abandoned pharmacy. 

the alien swallowed thickly as he bent over to scoop the loud containers into his arms and dropped them into his bag. he had little to his name. he was on the run, and he had a splitting headache. 

screwing his eyes shut and placing a shaky hand over his forehead, karkat sighed and bit his lip in disgust. why had he decided to run? he knew that they were bad trolls with even worse morals, but they gave him shelter and food. at least he was kept alive. 

now he was alone. he was sure that they were searching for him, around every corner they're lurking, just waiting to capture him in a bout of sweet unexpected bliss. he'd be fed to the rotters if they ever found him. 

a slow and painful death it would be. they'd tear him apart limb for limb starting with the tender meat. his thighs and his stomach would go first, the soft flavorful portion of his body. then his guts would be revealed. they'd tear apart his intestines and have his heart for desert. all while he was still alive to witness his imminent doom. 

lost in his thoughts of death and decay, karkat hardly noticed the chime of the bell atop the glass entry door. karkat snapped out of his thoughts and immediately dropped to the floor as silently as he could manage. there was someone else in here with him. fuck. why hadn't he locked the door behind him? for all he knew, it could be a rotter. 

he pressed his back up against an empty shelf and perked his ears. he listened very carefully for the telltale signs of the dead. heavy breathing, moans or groans, dragging feet or limbs, slow movement. karkat couldn't hear anything. 

slightly panicking and believing his mind to be deceiving him, he flicked his ears and furrowed his brows, pressing the side of his head up against the shelf. nothing. 

karkat's breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened when he heard the click of a pistol right beside him. oh fuck. oh shit. they found him. what was he going to do? what were they going to do? kill him right on the spot? kidnap him and take him back? he imagined he'd be fed to the rotters but now, he wasn't so sure. how could he get out of-

"so." 

the person with the gun spoke. karkat still hadn't moved from his position glued to the shelf. a wave of relief washed over his trembling body as he realized that he didn't recognize the voice. he wasn't one of them. 

"you gonna speak or what?"

the persons voice was deep. he was male. karkat tentatively turned his head towards the speaking. seeing the pistol pointed directly as his face, he flattened his ears and gulped, shifting backward just a tad. 

"i... i don't mean any harm," karkat spoke shakily while he raised both of his hands into the air. he realized that now might not be the best time to show fear, so he swallowed again and took a deep breath in though his nostrils. the place was damp and musty, smelling like moldy carpet. 

karkat raised his ears again and blinked slowly, trying his hardest to stop his constant trembling. he spoke again. 

"i'm alone." karkat spoke slowly. "i just needed some supplies to keep going."

the male with the pistol faltered a bit but then regained his position. he had dirty blonde hair, a mess of waves tangled upon his head. aviator sunglasses sat on the bridge of his nose, their color a deep tan. karkat could only slightly see his eye shape through the lenses. his skin was very pale and he had a scar on his upper lip. he also bore a scar on his neck. 

the pale human stood silent for a few moments before he spoke again.

"do you have any weapons on you?"

karkat nodded his head. he was carrying a machete he managed to steal when he left his previous caregivers.

"slide it over."

karkat obeyed and drew the knife out of its sheath strapped to his hip. he placed the machete on the tile and slid it across the floor slowly. 

the male lifted his foot and carefully stopped the weapon. he examined the boy in front of him trying to take in as many details as he could. 

his skin was a pale grey accompanied by splotches of red that he could see rising to the surface. he looked to be a rust blood. barely noticeable black freckles dotted his nose and cheeks as well as his neck. his eyes were large and his irises a deep yellow. he had big ears that were pointed at the ends and matted curls that came down past them. his horns were very small, just nubs on top of his head. his hands were small too, looking almost like paws rimmed with sharp claws. he looked soft. trusting.

the human slowly lowered his gun on the alien. karkat puffed out a sigh of relief and began to lower his hands. 

"do you have a name?" the human spoke cautiously. 

karkat slowly nodded his head, never breaking eye contact with his counterpart's shades. "karkat vantas."

the teen nodded and reached out a hand. "dave strider." 

karkat eagerly grabbed dave's hand and allowed him to help pull him off the cold tile. he stood about 3 feet away from the man and and began to pick up his belongings.

dave studied karkat as he leaned down to collect his items. he seemed to be 19 or so, no older than 21 or 22 years. he seemed to be dave's age. 

as karkat scooped his cans of food and pill bottles back into his satchel, he wondered what dave was going to do to him. let him off free? hold him hostage? who knows. 

"so," karkat chose his words carefully. "now that i'm at your mercy, what do you plan on doing with me?"

dave was caught by surprise. he wasn't really sure. he made a humming sound indicating to karkat that he was thinking. he could just let him go. obviously, karkat didn't seem to mean him any harm. he was just trying to survive. but letting him go could come back and bite dave in the ass later.

karkat may mean no harm now, but later on he may join a group and make dave and his friends the enemy. karkat may end up attacking the camp later on. 

dave thought for a moment more before saying, "why don't you come back with me?"

karkat choked in surprise. his ears flattened again and his pupils dilated. "come- come back with you? do you have a camp or something?" 

dave nodded his head slightly. "yeah we've got a setup just a few miles from here. you said you're alone? right well, you could join us."

karkat's heart sped up as he clutched his bag closer to his hip. "really?" he squeaked. but then he shook his head and puffed out his chest trying to seem more manly. "i mean sure. i don't have anywhere else to go anyways." dave may be able to offer him protection from his previous counterparts. 

dave chuckled and shook his own head. "yeah okay, here." he slid karkat's machete back to him with a push of his foot. "try anything stupid with that and i will shoot you. understood?" 

dave uncocked his gun and waved it at karkat one last threatening time as karkat violently nodded his head. 

"understood."

"good. now make sure you have all your shit, i'm taking you home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first chapters always the shortest with me, the rest of the chapters will be longer and packed with more action and dialogue. i'll probably update whenever i get the chance, but if i find its easier to make a schedule i'll update on certain days instead. 
> 
> anyways, this book is dedicated to sarah, my ex girlfriend. she was the one who introduced me to homestuck and in honor of her being karkat kin all those years ago, this is for her.


	3. ii

they walked in silence almost 5 feet apart. the road was dry and cracked, miles upon miles of dirt. in the distance, the pitiful moans and chokes of rotters could be identified along with the almost silent patter of the two boys' footsteps. 

"karkat, right?" dave seemed on edge walking beside his alien counterpart, but nonetheless tried to lift the mood. the tension in the air was thick, and dave hated tension of any sort. he angled his head towards karkat and smirked. 

karkat flicked his left ear which bore a deep tear close to the pointed edge. he kept his eyes on the expanse ahead as he responded. "yeah, karkat."

dave chuckled and pushed his glasses further up onto his nose bridge, breaking his gaze away from karkat, the other boy still focused on their travel route. karkat's mind was running a thousand miles a minute. could he really trust this blonde asshole?

dave awkwardly cleared his throat, realizing that his attempt to clear the tension in the air was unsuccessful. "we're getting closer to the camp," he rose his arm and pointed up ahead.

karkat could see the faint outline of 3 large cars coming up on the hill. they looked to be about the size of vans. he could also see plumes of white smoke rising into the air and mixing with the atmosphere.

"see those v-"

dave was cut off from his sentence as a shrill cry echoed throughout his ears. both of them startled and tripped in their tracks, pausing to look at each other. karkat flattened his ears and his eyes widened. dave's breath caught in his throat as he realized who the voice belonged to.

"roxy." the blonde whimpered under his breath. karkat was thoroughly confused as dave took off in the direction of the camp, his combat boots pounding at full speed against the dry dirt, leaving karkat in a plume of dust.

"dave!" the alien shouted and furrowed his eyebrows as he began to speedwalk after him. "oh god." karkat sped up as well, trying his hardest to catch dave. 

up ahead, gunshots rang through the air. one, two, three, four, five. karkat screeched as the waves hit his sensitive ears, covering them with his hands and screwing his eyes shut. he ran as fast and hard as he could. six, seven, eight.

karkat halted to a quick stop several yards away from the vans. the fire was raging, desperately trying to escape the deep hole it was contained in, clouding the air in a thick overlay of smoke. karkat coughed several times and rubbed his eyes furiously in an attempt to ward away tears of irritation.  
through the grey he could see figures struggling, those alive and dead. he bared his teeth in a snarl and whipped the machete at his side out of its sheath. barreling into the smoke, his back met another, firm and tall; alive. karkat could see the shadow of twisted horns lumbering towards him in the plume.

the troll's arm flung out and grabbed his own, the hand was decayed and blackened, skin falling off of the fingers. karkat yelped and slashed his weapon through the air, spatters of blue substance spiraled through the air. another pair of horns making its way towards him. 

from his behind, he could hear the rev of a chainsaw and he shuddered in fear, the back still pressed against his own. however, his fear subsided when he turned to face the figure with the chainsaw and they brought it down on the arm of a rotter gripping itself on to his leg.

mustard blood splashed across karkat's face as the decapitated head of a rotter flew by his own. the ordeal seemed to go down in slow motion. the figure at his back was another troll, one who just saved him from imminent doom.

they were tall and lanky, seeming to have a female build. with short hair and mismatched horns, karkat could see her grin through the smoke as she sliced through the body of another rotter. her bright green tongue lolled out as she screamed a vigilant war cry, orange blood mixing with the purple and yellow already dawned on her face.

karkat pressed his back further into hers to let her know that he was still there and he was going to protect her. one last time karkat slung his machete at the head of a decaying human, the bright red of its blood decorated his neck and his jean jacket as it slumped to the ground. 

finally, the moans of the dead seemed to subside and were now replaced with gasps and screams of living beings within the camp. karkat felt the woman behind him whisk away into the smoke quickly. he stumbled no longer supporting his weight on her back. 

balancing himself, karkat tripped his way over the bodies of the dead towards the sounds of crying across the camp. he barely could see through the smoke but halted himself once he could see dave's figure hunched over what seemed to be a body on the ground. dave was shouting, he sounded desperate.

"hey! look at me john! everything is going to be okay, i promise! look at me, no don't close your eyes! stay awake john, we're going to fix this, we're going to..." dave's voice trailed off as he choked out a strangled sob and held john's face in his hands.

karkat was horrified by the sight before him. a boy was sprawled over dave's lap, seeming to be about their own age. he wore a blue flannel tied around his waist and a dirty white wife-beater soiled with blood. the thick stream was oozing out of his neck at a constant rate.

the rancid smell of iron and copper flooded karkat's nose and he wrinkled it in disgust and horror as he watched dave hold the boy's head close to his chest. the female troll and a female human with blonde hair were frantically trying to cover the wound.

frozen, karkat didn't know what to do. he wanted to help, he had to. in a bout of bravery, he flung off his own black jean jacket and fell to the ground beside the female troll. he shoved the jacket in her arms and she speedily snatched it away, immediately pressing it to john's neck.

to the left of the blonde human girl, two other humans were huddled on the ground wrapped tightly in each other's arms. karkat located the source of the obnoxious sobbing that flooded his ears since he arrived into this ordeal. she was a lanky girl with vibrant pink hair, her face stuffed into the chest of another girl.

the human holding the pink-haired girl was another female. she had very long black hair, matted and thick with what used to be curls pulled back into a low ponytail, the mane falling across her back. she had large round glasses and innocent doe eyes.

karkat turned his attention back to john sprawled in the dirt. his chest was rising and falling ever so slowly and he was choking on bouts of his own blood, the red liquid seeping out the sides of his mouth and through his nostrils. his square-framed glasses lay cracked and crooked on his face as dave shushed him and whispered incoherent nothings. 

karkat swallowed thickly as he was urged out of the way by the female troll. backing up, he helplessly observed the ordeal from a foot behind the action.

"dave," john gasped out as dave tenderly held his head in his lap.

"y-yeah? hold on dude we're going to fix this..." dave was trying to hold back his despair, karkat could tell by the way his chest jerked unpredictably with repressed chokes. tears flowed freely down his cheeks however, betraying his attempt to conceal his feelings.

karkat's heart lurched as he watched dave's tears dribble into his mouth and off his chin, landing softly on john's chest and face. the world seemed to move in slow motion at this point. all sounds ceased to exist to karkat as he helplessly drank in the sight before him.

his eyes scanned over the group as the female troll and blonde girl slowly moved away from their frantic attempts to cover john's wound. the troll sat on her knees, her head lowered and the girl's legs were sprawled beside her, her hand tentatively reaching out to cup the troll's. she squeezed and the troll's back shook with a silent sob. 

the female humans tangled in each other silenced themselves too, the pink-headed girl's fit calming significantly. they all seemed to share an unspoken word with each other a mutual respect for dave it seemed. everyone except for him seemed to realize that this was goodbye.  
"dave," john spoke again and slowly reached a hand to cup daves wet face above him. dave shook with a sob he wasn't able to hold back as john's thumb trailed across his bottom lip, catching on his snake bite piercing. dave giggled through his fit and pressed his hand against john's holding it firmly to his face.

"you know what you have to do." john seemed very calm. almost too calm, karkat thought. for his current situation, even john was accepting the fact that this was the end of his line.

"n-no john," dave buried his face into john's hand further. "i'm not going to do that to you. we can still fix this. there's still time to-"

"no." john coughed and then repeated himself. he slid dave's glasses off of his face and placed them in his blonde hair. "it has to be you dave. i want it to be you."

dave shook his head as his eyes bore down into john's. his best friend since he was thirteen years old. never had he ever thought that a day like this would come. they shared so many memories together. from just internet friends excited to play the hottest game of the year, to inseparable by the time they reached 20. and now, it was time to let him go. dave wasn't ready to. he imagined that he and john would die together, partners in crime until the very end.

this was the very end.

dave swallowed and slowly reached for his belt.

karkat winced at he watched the troll and her counterpart lean into each other, bowing their heads and covering their ears. the two human girls gripped onto each other tighter, hiding their own ears as well.

everything was silent.

"i love you, bro." 

karkat could hear the familiar click of dave's pistol, a sound he himself had heard not long before this moment. he lowered his own head and plugged his ears feeling the warmth of a single tear rolling down his left cheek.

"i love you too... bro."

the experience was so surreal. karkat never wanted to feel this way again. the gritty bang of a bullet shattering bone was one that karkat never wanted to hear again. he felt bile rise into his throat as he heard the splash of blood and brain material hit the dirt in a smack. he choked the filth off of his tongue onto the ground beside him and screwed his eyes shut.

the piercing cry of the pink-haired girl sliced through the silence again, giving way to the rest of the group's own sobs as well. karkat never looked up from his place bowed a foot behind. he kept his eyes shut as he heard dave slide the heavy body of john off of his lap and begin to panic.

dave screamed. karkat's heart dropped to his stomach.

karkat heard the click of a pistol again, this time dangerously close to his own ear. 

his head snapped up and his eyes met the flaring gaze of the female troll. she was standing rigid above him and her face was drawn back into a snarl. she looked so animalistic and feral that karkat's fight or flight instantly kicked into gear. the pistol was pointed square between his eyes and she was trembling uncontrollably.

pale green tear streaks decorated her face and mixed with the old blood there, swirling the rainbow into a deep brown. she foamed at the mouth and her fangs were enormous. karkat knew at once that she was a vampire. an exceedingly rare jade blood. extremely dangerous.

the blonde female that was comforting the jade blood before lept into the air, slamming her body into the vampire.

"kanaya!" she shouted as they tumbled to the ground. kanaya snarled before she realized who had pushed her down.

"rose!" kanaya shouted back at the human.

"do not dare hold that gun against him! do you understand?" rose shouted at kanaya, her own human face streaked with tears. "he helped you. he helped john. he helped us."

kanaya's eyes still bore directly into karkat's however, her face was no longer drawn back in anger. she was in shock. very terrible shock.

"i- i don't mean any harm i swear! dave brought me here... he offered me protection and a group..." karkat slid back into a sitting position further away from kanaya, his legs still sprawled awkwardly beneath him.

kanaya never tore her gaze away from karkat's. she huffed in a deep breath of air, rose still pinning her to the ground, keeping karkat out of harm's way. she chuckled sarcastically and slammed the back of her head into the dirt in defeat. spitting a glob of fluorescent green into the dirt beside her head, she smiled and licked her fangs, stained with her blood.

"welcome to the fucking survivors, kid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i warned u abt gore and major character death right?  
> i also like to imagine the trolls as more feral like animals rather than having more human traits? thought i'd incorporate that here   
> happy 4/13 everyone :3


End file.
